- Seven Chinese nationals, who were arrested for human trafficking, have pleaded not guilty.
- The accused appeared in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.
- They face 160 charges, including human trafficking, kidnapping and the violation of labour laws.
Seven Chinese nationals, who were arrested for human trafficking, have pleaded not guilty.
Kevin Tsao, Dai Junying, Chen Hui, Qin Li, Jiaqing Zhou, Ma Biao and Zhang Zhilian appeared in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Monday for their trial.
They face 160 charges, including counts of human trafficking, kidnapping and the violation of labour laws.
They were arrested on 12 November 2019, following an operation between the Department of Employment and Labour's inspection and enforcement services branch in Gauteng, the police, the Department of Home Affairs and the Hawks, News24 previously reported.
It is alleged that they allegedly ran an illegal enterprise called Beautiful City Pty Ltd in Village Deep, Johannesburg.
The seven Chinese nationals were allegedly trafficking undocumented immigrants into South Africa and subjecting them to forced labour in their factory between April 2017 until 2019.
Ninety-one Malawian nationals, including children, were allegedly found in the factory.
In a 50-page indictment it is alleged that they "unlawfully and intentionally transferred and or harbour the victim … by means of deception and or by [the] threat of harm and or threat or use of force and or other forms of coercion and/or by abusing the position of vulnerability and/or the abuse of power, for the purpose of labour exploitation".
They are also accused of kidnapping some of their victims.
The State further alleges the accused deprived some of their victims of their freedom of movement by "locking the gates and posting armed security guards at the gates, thereby preventing the employees from leaving the premises".
The accused allegedly helped some people to remain inside South Africa in contravention of the Immigration Act, the State alleges.
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